Meet young Harrison Green. He’s the 7 year old son of Professor Matthew Green who teaches computer security and cryptology at John Hopkins University. No, Harrison is not a child prodigy as far as we know. He is neither a mini Einstein nor a hacker in the making. He IS a 7 year old boy that bypassed iPhone 6 encryption and biometrics when the FBI could not. Swallow that for a second and make sure you understand that I’m not making a joke. We’ll get to the how and why in a minute.
As some may know and others not, the iPhone 5s, 6, 6 plus, iPad air 2 and iPad mini 3 all have an available biometric ID system available for unlocking the device. Basically a fingerprint scanner that verifies you are you. The Touch ID system has already received swelling criticism in the simple fact that it could very well discard the user’s right to the 5th amendment. As a reference, this is the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution:
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
“nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself” is the line we are concerned about in this case. If you are a mischievous person or criminal and you keep personal info on your phone, you cannot be required to give up your password to that locked phone because you technically are incriminating yourself. However, If you are fingerprinted, that fingerprint becomes property of law enforcement and they can do what they want with it…including unlocking your phone. I can imagine there will be case after case and precedents set everywhere in the future but for now, that’s pretty much the way things go. It’ll vary in technicalities and by state but that’s it in the nutshell.
Legalities aside what about the rest? Muggings, ID theft and the rest of the opposite end of the spectrum? It’s bad enough people get robbed and harmed just because they have a $400 iPhone now all the “smart ones” need to remember is to force you to put your finger on the phone before they knock you around.
With that divergence accomplished we return to the regular show.
So, how did young Mr. Green break his pop’s phone? He used the most low tech way that exists… Wanting to play games on the phone but not wanting to wake up his sleeping father, Harrison quietly walked over to his dad, pressed dad’s finger on the screen and the phone was unlocked. If nothing else this raises a serious concern on the viability and actual security of the system
High Tech vs. Low tech… which one can always compensate?
Anonymous recommends: Protect your PC & mobile devices from hackers & governments & surf anonymously
dieterle, d. (2014, December 9). CYBER ARMS – Computer Security. Retrieved 14 February 2015, from https://cyberarms.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/7-year-old-figures-out-how-to-bypass-apple-encryption/
inline citations: (dieterle, 2014
mejia, lisette. (2014, December 4). Boy Breaks Into Dad’s iPhone. Retrieved 14 February 2015, from http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Boy-Breaks-Dad-iPhone-36219851
inline citations: (mejia, 2014)
Money, C. (2014, December 4). iPhone encryption stops FBI, but not this 7-year-old. Retrieved 14 February 2015, from http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/01/technology/security/apple-iphone-encryption-fingerprint/
inline citations: (Money, 2014)
The kid didn’t bypass anything. He used the scanner exactly how it’s meant to be used, albeit in a roundabout manner.
This is fucking stupid. Please stop posting articles like these.
Don’t fucking like then fuck off
Well, you only find out in the very end that it is garbage article. “Bypases”.. That is a load of crap.
Another false flag hacker story posted, stop posting rubbish
Ok, what the kid did was pretty funny purely because his dad is a security professional. But the kid didn’t bypass anything!! The title is misleading…
It was obvious but a good read. Those expecting anything but a light-hearted article missed the point.
nice that kid has a bright future ahead of him
A lame story
Love yourself love other oppose the 1% and trust your guts
another article for a moron who thinks this is news. I bet the 7 year old would roll his eyes at this article. You’re never better than your dumbest reader, time to up the ante.
Interesting point about the finger prints being property of the authorities, and the fact they can use it to unlock your phone.. Basically, get a different lock system for your phone if you’re doing shady things on it.
C’mon people, lets just all hold hands, take a couple of deep breaths and relax. It’s a pleasant enough story to brighten up everyone’s day. If you want more of a 100% personally fulfilling intellectual post everytime then maybe a suggestion would be to create your own fb page or blog. Even the smartest man alive (in my opinion) – Dr Stephen Hawking, voices light hearted phrases every now and again. Anonymous are fantastic (if only) in what they stand for and not only this but the variety of stories that they post make them interesting, educational, and entertaining to follow. Just because they post the occasional simple light hearted story like this, doesn’t mean that they should be hated or that any of us should get annoyed with each other for our differing opinions.
To those upset…. what angered you most? the fact that you were expecting to read about a 7 year old “genius” and were left hanging by an inventive low tech solution… or that fact that you never would have thought about such a simple way around the tech? If all that can be done is complain, you haven’t learned a thing. Enjoy your week!
I liked it. 😀
Very dumb article. Its a trap o make people read this trashy article.
I thought it was great the kid used his brain.
this is very stupid. fucking unbelievable. fu***** article.
What was you hoping for the child to of hacked it and then be killed by the police as how most story’s end these days you sad sacks I can only hope that your sperm n offsprings r hacked n given a chance to detach from your weak negative thinking